Man faces drug charges after vehicle check

A suspicious vehicle check led to the arrest of a man on drug charges at a northern Newton County motel early Monday morning.

From Staff Reports

JOPLIN — A suspicious vehicle check led to the arrest of a man on drug charges at a northern Newton County motel early Monday morning.

At about 1:57 a.m. Monday, a Joplin police officer conducted a suspicious vehicle check on the parking lot of the Sunrise Inn at 3600 S. Rangeline Road. According to a JPD prepared statement, the officer smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle. The officer then got a consent to search the vehicle, and a canine officer was requested to respond to the location.

The canine officer alerted on the vehicle and officers located a black sock that had been hidden on the undercarriage of the car. Also inside the vehicle was a substance that looked like marijuana. A field test was conducted on the items in the sock and it was determined to be cocaine, weighing a total of 20 grams. The marijuana also tested positive, and weighed 7.6 grams. Another baggie located inside the vehicle wasn’t able to be tested at the time of the incident and was sent to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crime lab for testing. That white substance weighed 6.1 grams.

Robert Vice, 58, of Webb City, was charged in Newton County with second-degree drug trafficking, a class A felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Bond was set at $50,000.

A court date for Vice has not yet been set, according to electronic court records filed on Case.Net.